COMMENDEE 2017-18: Trevor receives a Commendation for his many contributions to pastoral care, both as Head of HMP Belmarsh’s Chaplaincy team, described as ‘the best in the country’, and more widely in the national chaplaincy community.

The Reverend Trevor Jacquet has made a real difference across a wide variety of roles for decades – not least as head of HMP Belmarsh’s Chaplaincy team, described by his Governor Rob Davis as “the best in the country”. His own pastoral care is outstanding, achieving 98% in a 2016 audit – the highest score in the country. As well as his impact on Belmarsh staff and the national chaplaincy community, he is also highly active in his local community.

Initial nominator Beverly Clark, Head of Residence and Services at Belmarsh, calls Trevor “the most dedicated Chaplain I have ever worked with,” and notes his multi-faith commitment within a wider context: “He has a way of making prisoners have an understanding about not just religion but also about choices in their life. How they can turn things round if they want to. To gain strength and self-respect, to identify what they have done wrong and how they can change if they want to.”

Beverly also praises his deep support for staff, allowing them “to share their problems and gain the support they need to get through their time of crisis. He goes further then any person I know”, she adds, “and to have Trev in your life can only be rewarding.” He also contributes at a national level through his leading role in chaplaincy affairs for Prospect Union.

Local Butler Trust Champion Paula Cooper, Business Administrator in the People Hub at Belmarsh, describes Trevor:

“He is an ambassador for religion as a force for good in the world. He leads a team to meet the religious and pastoral needs of some of the most challenging prisoners in the country, and has nurtured an army of volunteers who enrich the community of the prison.”

Trevor’s longstanding work as a Chaplain often involves supporting prisoners through the death of relatives, or vice versa as a Family Liaison Officer, and can involve some of the most difficult conversations of all. Trevor estimates he has personally broken bad news to around 6000 prisoners and 70-80 families, supporting them through the task of processing such news. Trevor has also been involved in setting up, and continues to lead, Belmarsh’s Staff Care Team, and the prison would be a much poorer, impersonal, uncaring, environment without him.

In addition to his work in Belmarsh, he has taken part in a variety of voluntary activities, including running a project for the homeless, running youth services in Vauxhall, coaching a woman’s rugby clubs, and acting as a school governor.

Stephen O’Connell, Group Director of Kent and Essex Prisons for HMPPS, calls Trevor “an innovator, always striving for the best when it comes to the delivery of services and care for those in custody and treating everyone as an individual with their own unique needs.”

Trevor himself is eloquent in describing his role:

“I see my job as holding on to hope for many who have lost hope, even all hope. To convey to them by listening, talking, normal human interactions and high hopes for them that they are made in the image of God and of unfathomable value no matter what they have done, what they face, and what they are like. To be alongside as they face the truth, about themselves and their actions, as they learn to live with the past, be forgivable and forgiven, by themselves as much as anyone else or God. To help them explore the possibility and opportunity of change.”